Abstract
This report outlines monitoring activities and results of data analyses conducted at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) test site in the Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy during 2024. Specifically, this report highlights results of environmental monitoring activities conducted by FORCE and other research and development activities conducted at the FORCE site. This report also provides a summary of international research activities around tidal stream energy devices.
Key updates in this report include:
- The Tidal Task Force on Sustainable Tidal Energy Development in the Bay of Fundy recently issued its Final Report. The report includes a revised staged approach to tidal stream energy project permitting at the FORCE site that was developed in collaboration with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, aligns with provincial licensing, and includes adaptive management conditions for environmental monitoring that improves understanding of how fish interact with tidal stream energy devices.
- FORCE has partnered with Acadia Tidal Energy Institute on a new initiative that aligns with the priorities of the Risk & Monitoring Working Group of the Tidal Task Force on Sustainable Tidal Energy Development in the Bay of Fundy. The initiative includes a series of complementary desktop studies to inform a larger field-based project to understand how fish interact with tidal stream energy devices at FORCE.
- FORCE has partnered with Innovasea and a series of other collaborators on an Ocean Supercluster funded project to advance the application of artificial intelligence for monitoring fish around hydroelectric and tidal stream energy projects.